CHAPTER 1911: CHAPTER 903: CONFLICT (HAPPY NATIONAL DAY!)

As the sun in the east gradually rises from the sea, the scenery on the sea becomes exceptionally beautiful.

But the people on the yacht, their mood was not so beautiful.

Xiaohe was shouting, "Old Chang, can’t we go any further?"

Old Chang, a rather refined-looking middle-aged man with glasses, smiled bitterly and said, "Really can’t. Your ship could go a bit further, but ours is a fishing boat, and we’re about at our limit here. Going further might cause conflicts."

Xiaohe slammed the table, "Alright, you guys stop here, we’ll continue.

Old Chang looked at the others on the yacht, showing a pleading expression, but after looking around, he saw only indifferent people. He finally sighed, "Originally, if it was just us old folks, it didn’t matter, but before we set out, a group of students from a school organized a team and contacted us, insisting on joining."

"Because of these students, our initial intention changed. It’s good that they want to join. We also hope to let these students have real-world experiences, so they can promote it among young people when they return. But with over a dozen students, I must be responsible for them, bring them out, and also take them back."

"Do you think I’m scared? I am... Sigh, no matter what you say, I definitely won’t go further."

They had already reached the edge of Nansha, and Xiaohe and his group thought it was all their own territory, so of course, they wanted to sail as they wished. But the captain of the fishing boat, Old Chang, was firm about not going any further.

Xiaohe disagreed and made a fuss, so Old Chang could only row over in a small dinghy to explain.

As the two were at a stalemate, Yan Fei spoke up, "Xiao Zhi, let’s leave it at that! We’ve come quite far already. If we go further, we aren’t afraid of meeting people; we’re afraid of mysterious incidents happening to us. It’s about enough to turn around here!"

When Yan Fei spoke, The Fifth Young Master Guo also chimed in with some words of encouragement. Brother Le also thought it was better to be cautious. With another word from him, Xiaohe suddenly sat in his chair like a deflated balloon, glaring and sulking.

"If you really want to go further... if you can bring those students onto your ship, then we can go a bit further. What do you think?" Old Chang looked at the group in the room, softly suggesting, "I think your boat can handle a few more people, right?"

"Alright, let them come up!" Wen Le thought for a moment, glanced at Yan Fei and The Fifth Young Master Guo, and seeing they had no objection, nodded his head.

Xiaohe immediately turned his anger into joy, "Old Chang, let them come over! But with more people, I’m afraid we don’t have enough food. Can you bring us some from your boat?"

"No problem." Old Chang was pleased to see how agreeable they were.

Soon, more than ten young students came over, mostly boys, with only two girls. The lead student named Hu Yanjun introduced the group to everyone. Xiaohe also made introductions to this side, settling them in.

The two ships continued forward. The students were a bit reserved at first, but as time passed, they soon mingled well. After all, they were young and came with similar goals.

In any case, having boarded the same ship with a shared objective meant they were comrades!

Hu Yanjun, seeing his classmates wandering around the yacht, paused and said quietly, "Actually, Uncle Chang isn’t cowardly; he’s just worried about us. He’s someone who’s been tattooed!"

"Tattooed?" Everyone expressed confusion.

Zhang Jian even made a joke, "Old Chang was part of a gang?"

Tattooing has existed since ancient times. But nowadays, especially since Hong Kong gangster movies were a hit in the mainland, tattoos have become a hallmark of bad kids.

But the tattoos Hu Yanjun mentioned were not at all what people usually knew.

The tattoos Hu Yanjun talked about were not ones where fishermen wanted to be unique and chose to get. They were forcibly tattooed, akin to the ancient practice of tattooing criminals.

Chinese fishing boats are unarmed, and their nature means they can’t leave quickly when trouble arises. So in some conflicts, they get captured and imprisoned, and the next step is tattooing.

For fishermen, this was an utterly humiliating experience.

Most people wouldn’t know about these things. It was only now, through Hu Yanjun, that several learned about it.

Old Chang originally had two fishing boats himself. Because of the tattooing incident, he lost his boats and owed debts for years. He’s only recently come ashore to do some small business.

For a moment, nobody knew what to say!

...

In the silence, the captain suddenly warned, "The fishing boat up front has encountered a situation. Everyone, be careful. Those on the deck, come back in immediately!"

The captain knew very well who they had on this yacht. Although he believed the yacht wouldn’t be in trouble, meeting a sudden situation made him nervous. He issued a warning to make everyone prepare.

When everyone on the yacht came inside, they asked nervously what the situation was, only to learn that the fishing boat ahead had spotted a Feilu Country flag-bearing vessel.